Alternate Title: Assistant Director of Programs
Position Number: 202056
New or Refill:            Refill 
Core position:  
Salary Grade:            8
Division/Dept.: Programs/Asia
Dept. #/Subproject WO: BD0/BD0000HIBD20
Reports to: Country Director
Supervisor POSNO: 202042
Supervisor RESNO/Name: 102003/M. Siddiqur Rahman
Supervision: Employees
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Relocation Funds: Negotiable
Travel Required: 25% of Annual Travel

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

FUNCTION:

The Assistant Director of Programs provides overall leadership and management for all Heifer Bangladesh Programs including leading the planning, design, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the country program and ensuring the quality of projects, implementation, donor reporting and field level management is of the highest standards.

The Assistant Director enforces quality assurance with all projects being implemented by Heifer International in Bangladesh. The Assistant Director provides line management support to all Program Managers and Program Officers including overall management of their performance and of all the Program staff in Heifer Bangladesh.

The Assistant Director of Programs supports the translation of Heifer International’s Global Vision and Strategy into project implementation and ensuring project design and implementation are geared towards achieving scale and impact, attracting funding to diversify funding resources and that project implementation processes respond to Heifer International’s need to strengthen global operating systems. With the support of the Country Director, the Assistant Director of Programs leads the process for developing and growing Heifer Bangladesh’s Program to reflect a fair balance in the project portfolio.

ESSENTIAL CHARACTER TRAITS: 

Self-motivated, result oriented, high integrity, accountability

RESPONSIBILITIES
(including approximate percentage effort)

DELIVERABLES
  • Program Management (25%)
  • Assume overall responsibility for the management of all Heifer Bangladesh programs and provide line management support to all Program Managers and Program Officers.
  • Support Program Managers and Program Officers in the management of field resources and project budgets and ensure these are used in compliance with approved guidelines (vehicle and motorcycle management, etc.).
  • Implement the annual performance management process for all Program Managers and Program Officers and support them to ensure these activities cascade to all Program staff.
  • Staff performance management system for all program staff is implemented on a quarterly and annual ensuring the achievement of at least 80% of the set performance targets.
  • Enhanced compliance and accountability in the management of project resources, achieving at least 90% compliance.  
  • Over 80% of planned milestones are achieved by the projects.
  • Ensure 100% compliance with donors on all project donor contractual obligations by all the project staff.

 
  • Program Planning and Budgeting (15%)
  • Support all project teams to develop annual budgets and work plans consistent with project documents and donor contracts.
  • Support teams in undertaking the necessary review and updating of the work plans and budgets to respond to emerging field implementation challenges and project review processes.
  • Review all support in the execution of Letters of Agreement (LOAs) between beneficiary groups and/or Producer Organizations and Heifer Bangladesh.
  • Support in the review of the Heifer Bangladesh Country Program Framework.

 
  • Project work plans and budgets (annual, quarterly and monthly) developed for all approved projects every financial year and implemented in line with project documents and work plans.
  • Periodic and timely reviews of budgets and reforecasting of all approved project work plans undertaken and shared with Headquarters and respective donors, ensuring alignment with donor contracts.
  • Effective management of partnerships between beneficiary groups and producer organizations who are supported by the project, to ensure 100% adherence with LOAs.
  • Biannual and annual review of the Bangladesh Country Program Framework with clear actions to address any gaps that may be observed.  
  • Budget Management and Monitoring (15%)
  • In coordination with the finance department, undertake quarterly budget monitoring and variance analysis with all Program Managers and support projects in reviewing and tracking spending to adhere to annual budgets.
  • Lead in reconciling budget variances with programmatic activity changes for monthly spending reviews.
  • Support Program Managers and the Country Program to plan and undertake corrective management actions arising out of budget monitoring reports.
  • Approve program related requests for reconciliations in line with work plans and financial management procedures.
  • Monthly and quarterly budgets for all ongoing projects highlighting the status of project spending and presenting these in monthly operational meetings.
  • Implement and track all proposed corrective measures to address any variances beyond +/-10%, ensuring that spending is brought on track within the planned period. 
  • Program requests for reconciliations are approved in line with work plans and financial management procedures.
  • Program Reporting (20%)
  • Review regular quarterly, semi- and annual reports from Program Managers and Program Officers and support them to comply with requirements of quality reporting and timeliness.
  • Review donor reports from Program Managers and Project Coordinators to ensure they comply with requirements in terms of quality and timelines and ensure these are of the highest standards.
  • Compile quarterly Country Program Reports to provide oversight of the Country Program implementation.
  • Compile the Heifer International Annual Board Ends report.
  • All project progress reports (quarterly, semi- and annual reports) from Program Managers and Program Officers are compliant with expected quality standards and timelines.
  • All donor reports from Program Managers and Program Officers are compliant with expected quality standards, timelines and donor formats.
  • Heifer Bangladesh Country Program Quarterly Reports are compiled annually within the stipulated timelines.
  • Heifer International Annual Board Ends report compiled and submitted within the stipulated timelines.

 
  • Program Development and Fundraising (15%)
  • Provide leadership to the Program development work with all regional teams to grow and develop Heifer Bangladesh’s Programs portfolio.
  • Support Heifer Bangladesh’s fundraising work through background information gathering, concept development and proposal development.
  • Lead in cultivation of local resources for funding of project activities.
  • Support field teams in ensuring that Heifer Bangladesh interventions are appropriately designed, benefitting correctly targeted beneficiaries and creating the desired impact with participants.
  • At least two fundraising opportunities are identified and responded to annually.
  • Resource mobilization plans developed to enable achievement of the objectives of the Country Program Framework
  • Continuing and increasing levels of parallel co-funding in projects.
  • Effective designs and models are developed and incorporated in new projects in order to achieve the required scale and impacts.
  • Documentation and lessons learning (10%)
  • Support country projects in developing and documenting lessons learned and experiences for dissemination and sharing to inform future project development.
  • At least two successful cases per year per ongoing project are documented from projects and disseminated through different platforms.
  • Lessons learned from projects are documented and disseminated to stakeholders before the end of each project.
  • Successful business models are documented before the end of projects for replication or scaling up .
  • May perform other job-related duties as assigned.

 

Minimum Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Rural Development, Project Planning and Management, Agriculture, Agribusiness and Animal Science or other relevant qualification.
  • Seven (7) years of relevant experience in Program management, extension and community development work.

Preferred Requirements:

  • Master’s Degree in relevant professional discipline.
  • Five (5) years of supervisory/managerial experience.
  • Thorough understanding of programming processes, systems and principles, and the ability to provide leadership and support to staff working at community level.
  • Solid skill, knowledge and foundation in proposal development and of the project management cycle.
  • Sound understanding of value chain development on various agricultural commodities and the livestock sector.
  • Sound understanding of integrated development issues and critical analysis of the root causes of poverty in Bangladesh.
  • Knowledge of development issues, trends, challenges and opportunities and implications to community development.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of strategic planning processes.

Most Critical Proficiencies:

  • Good understanding of annual work planning and budgeting and budget monitoring.
  • A good understanding of monitoring and evaluation processes.
  • Solid project management and reporting skills.
  • Sound project and proposal development skills.
  • A good understanding and sensitivity to issues associated with poverty, hunger and environment, and knowledge of the context to which non-profit organizations operate.
  • Solid knowledge and experience in extension methodologies.
  • Experience in Agribusiness development, especially developing livestock value chains, market facilitation approaches and development of farmer business institutions.
  • Knowledge and experience in training and participatory training methodologies.
  • Team leadership skills, with good abilities of addressing conflicts amongst diverse teams and constituents.
  • Excellent organizational skills.
  • Proficient knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, presentation tools, electronic mail (Microsoft Office preferred) and Internet.
  • Demonstrated proficiency in English and French, both oral and written.

Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands:

  • Preparing and presenting project reports and presentations in a well-designed and attractive format with superior attention to detail.
  • Demonstrated creativity, ability to think systematically, willingness and ability to incorporate innovative solutions.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to work cooperatively, tactfully and diplomatically with culturally diverse groups of people.
  • Willingness and ability to assign and review the work of line managed staff and to use participatory management skills with junior and senior staff.
  • Proven team leadership and supervisory skills with the ability to train and work cooperatively with a diverse staff.
  • Regularly conduct stakeholder analysis to strengthen partnerships and leveraging of resources
  • Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues and the general public to scale up country program visibility and publicity.
  • May require constant sitting; working at a computer and focusing for extended periods of time and performing office work in the field and/or in remote conditions.
  • Working with sensitive information and maintaining confidentiality.
  • Ability to manage and execute multiple tasks with little supervision while meeting sometimes inflexible deadlines.

Heifer International Bangladesh invites application from qualified individuals. The candidates are to visit the website at: http://heiferbangladesh.org/get-involved/jobs-opportunities  to get Job Application Form. Please submit your application along with CV, scanned photo and cover letter addressing to Country Director to info.bangladesh@heifer.org on or before May 30, 2017.